Ishant Sharma destroys England to claim historic Test win
1:42

India has won its first Test on foreign soil in over three years after paceman Ishant Sharma claimed 7 for 74 at Lords to claim a 95 run victory over England in the second Test.

Fox Sports

22 Jul 2014

Sport/Cricket/News

THE England cricket team have fallen to one of their most humbling defeats - and one of their weirdest excuses yet has come out.

After a zombie-like performance in falling to India at Lord’s, meaning a 1-0 series deficit and ever-more extreme pressure on captain Alastair Cook, it has emerged that some players were suffering sleepless nights due to a haunted team hotel.

Yes. A HAUNTED HOTEL.

Writing in the Independent, Jack De Menezes noted: “The current squad, many of whom have cut a shadow of their former world-dominating selves, have revealed that they have suffered many a sleepless night at their five-star hotel because it is “haunted” – yes, haunted by ghosts.

England paceman Stuart Broad yells after a near miss - or screams at a ghost. We’re not sure.Source: AP

“Fast bowler Stuart Broad, who along with captain Alastair Cook has been one of the biggest disappointments of the summer, revealed that he moved rooms at the Langham Hotel in Marylebone because he was ‘convinced’ there were ghosts in the same room that he was sleeping in.

“’One night I woke up in the middle of the night, around 1.30am and I was convinced there was a presence in the room,’ Broad said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.

Worst sporting excuses:

Man United blamed their grey kits when they found themselves 3-0 down against Southampton in 1996.

Knicks blamed defeat to Oklahoma on ghosts in January 2010

Spain blame Casillas's partner on World Cup defeat to Switzerland in 2010

Sri Lanka blame their shirts being too tight folllowing defeat to India in the 2001 Champions Trophy final

All Blacks blamed their waitress Suzie for serving them "poisoned water" ahead of their 15-12 defeat to South Africa in 1995.

“It was the weirdest feeling. All of a sudden the taps in the bathroom came on for no reason. I turned the lights on and the taps turned themselves off.

“’Then when I turned the lights off again the taps came on. It really freaked me out. I ended up asking to move rooms.’

“The fast-bowler is not the only one to have experienced the spooky goings-on at the London hotel. All-rounder Ben Stokes, another who is struggling to find any form with the bat following a string of single digit scores, is also reported to have had difficulties sleeping, while some of the players’ girlfriends refused to stay at the Langham Hotel.

“The website of the 149-year-old hotel also has a story about its reputation of being haunted, with seven ghosts believed to roam the hallways of the ‘most haunted hotel in England’.”

De Menezes noted that a single hotel could not be held to blame for England’s entire nine-match winless streak.

Stuart Broad revealed that he moved rooms at the Langham Hotel in Marylebone because he was ‘convinced’ there were ghosts in the same room that he was sleeping in.

Jack De Menezes

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!Source: News Corp Australia

The Langham Hotel opened in 1865 and has been visited by several literary greats, including Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle.

It has also reportedly been frequented by a number of ghosts. The most common sighting is of a man in Victorian evening wear in Room 333, who apparently appears only during October.

Another guest claimed to have seen the figure of a man in military attire standing by the window on the fourth floor, which is said to be the ghost of a German Prince who jumped out of a window before the start of the First World War.

It is also believed that Napoleon III, another former guest, haunts the basement of the hotel.

Source: UK Telegraph

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Other sections of the press have focused on more traditional failings, with captain Cook again in the firing line both as a batsman and leader.

Vaughan said Cook needed to be removed from the captaincy for his own good.

“As the fallout from yet another Test defeat begins, English cricket’s first priority must be to look after its own. Like everyone else, I am talking about Alastair Cook. But I am talking about the person rather than the cricketer,” Vaughan wrote.

“Cook is 29 and has been representing England for eight years without a break. That takes its toll as a player alone, even if you’re not having to worry about leading the team as well. But then you put the captaincy into the mix, and it’s clearly something that doesn’t come naturally to him.

“I know the England and Wales Cricket Board has invested a lot of time and effort in Cook’s captaincy but sometimes you have to accept that something is not working. Stubbornness is a useful character trait when you are an opening batsman. But when it comes to decision-making, it can be damaging.

“Cook will not want to resign. He would see that as a capitulation, a big failure of personality. But there was a revealing signal at Monday’s post-match presentation, when he said that he was going to continue until he felt a “tap on the shoulder”.

“To me, that was almost like a cry for help. Somewhere deep down, I believe Cook wants the selectors to step in and pull him out of the fire, before it gets so hot that we lose him for good. This is a man with the capacity to score 13,000 Test runs.”

Vaughan said Cook should take a six-month break then attempt to return purely as a batsman. He backed a gamble on Morgan as skipper.

“The England team is crying out for someone with a different viewpoint, and Morgan has a nice manner, a lot of tactical awareness and a strong personality. Clearly, it us would be a risk. We don’t even know whether Morgan has it in him to be a reliable Test performer. But it might be time to throw the dice in the air.”

Bad Sharma - the England batting line-up had no answer to the Indian paceman.Source: AFP

“Alastair Cook is facing his darkest days as an England player following a defeat that shoved him ever closer to the trapdoor,” Wilson wrote.

“The fact he remains in charge, and is set to do so until the series is either lost or completed, is because both he and his bosses are in denial over what everyone else can see with their own eyes.

“’I still believe the team needs me to lead them through this tough time,’ said Cook, refusing to accept that they might be easier were he not in charge and simply scoring runs.

“His batting is so fragile he is as close to a walking wicket as any opening batsman should be, and as a captain his authority is as limp as the English and Indians’ flags that hung throughout five balmy days at HQ.

“What else could explain the way in which his team-mates showed a total disregard for their responsibilities as English cricketers and succumbed as meekly as possible to a short-pitched onslaught from Ishant Sharma.”

“Cook’s team lost six wickets for 50 runs either side of lunch to be bowled out for 223 in one of the most embarrassing displays of his increasingly disastrous spell in charge. England have now lost seven of their last 10 Tests and have not won in that period. It is their worst run in 21 years.

“The England captain, whose batting form has also collapsed, was badly let down by his batsmen again after lunch on day five.”

England veteran Matt Prior may be finished as a Test cricketer.Source: AFP

The other major talking point from England’s defeat was the decision by veteran wicketkeeper Matt Prior to stand down from the rest of the series due to fitness issues.

“Matt Prior has stepped down voluntarily from Test cricket for the rest of the summer due to fitness problems but Alastair Cook, the captain, has given himself three Tests to turn around England’s fortunes.

“The Telegraph can reveal that Prior told his fellow England players in the dressing room at Lord’s, after the 95-run defeat against India on Monday, that he was withdrawing from international cricket due to a com­bination of injuries and he did not want to let the team down by playing when not fit.

“Prior is not retiring from cricket but accepts that his decision may signal the end of his international career after 79 Tests for England over the course of seven years.”